Editorials in three local newspapers are calling for a balanced approach to  cost control on the eve of the Senate’s debate over Bill 2070, its health care bill. Excerpts: Boston Globe: On Beacon Hill, Some Good Ideas, Some Overreach on Health Care “The best course forward would be for the House to jettison its heavier-handed [...]

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By Lynda M. Young, MD MMS President With the release of the Senate bill today, we now have two detailed legislative approaches to payment reform, along with the Governor’s legislation from last year. We recognize the need to bend the cost curve in Massachusetts, and we will continue to work with the House, the Senate [...]

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The Massachusetts House Friday released a comprehensive payment reform bill that seeks the cut $160 billion in health care spending in Massachusetts over the next 15 years. House Speaker Robert DeLeo characterized the bill as an effort to balance the need to cut health care costs for employers and families with a desire to keep [...]

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As Massachusetts moves quickly toward a new system of paying for health care, a key question that remains is this:  Are physicians ready for global payments? It’s a critical one for doctors, because within such contracts, they bear the clinical responsibility for and the financial risk associated with managing the medical care of their patients. [...]

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Massachusetts Medical Society President Lynda Young urged doctors to make themselves heard in the debate over health care costs, especially as the stakes rise in Washington D.C. over looming Medicare cuts She spoke before the House of Delegates opening session at the MMS 2011 Interim Meeting, which began Friday, Dec. 2 at 9 a.m. Dr. [...]

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Last in a series of five articles on the 2011 MMS Physician Workforce Study With global payment contracts and accountable care organizations becoming more prevalent in Massachusetts, we thought it would be important to ask physicians what they thought of these new practice arrangements. About 57 percent of physicians said they were familiar with global [...]

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“One size doesn’t fit all.” Last week, during the MMS’ education program “A Path to Accountable Care Organizations: How Do We Get There From Here,” that concept for payment reform and ACO development was echoed repeatedly by several speakers. The new paradigm that is emerging requires physicians and hospitals to cooperate and work together, taking [...]

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In the recent New England Journal of Medicine article Launching Accountable Care Organizations- The Proposed Rule for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Dr. Donald Berwick noted that “a critical foundation of the proposed rule (on ACOs) is an unwavering focus on patients.” The best way to focus on patients is to ensure that decisions are [...]

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The term Accountable Care Organization (ACO) seems to be everywhere these days.  It’s hard to pick up a health care journal, newsletter or newspaper that does not contain at least one reference to ACOs. The one consistent thread is that ACOs are organizations of health care providers that agree to be accountable for the quality, [...]

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By Lynda Young, MD, MMS President During four days of public hearings last week, the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy heard providers, payers, researchers, and members of the public explain, under oath, what they think drives health care cost growth in Massachusetts and how provider prices affect insurance premiums. Day one focused on [...]

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